A small tribute to the memory of the late Editor Frank Leslie Rowell

A FAITHFUL SERVANT

A small tribute to the memory of the late Editor,
Frank Leslie Rowell

As with the Apostle Paul it can be said of my father that by the grace of God he was what he was. It was by that same grace of God moving his spirit that this magazine was first commenced. That circumstance alone demands that some account of his life and work should be placed on record here. A multitude of other reasons move a willing heart to recall something of the mercy of our Lord to my father, whose chief concern was the honour and glory of the Master he so willingly served. Such a record must of necessity be inadequate, but the comforting words of Scripture assure us that his ‘witness is in heaven’ and his ‘record is on high’.

Born in 1902 at Huntingdon, he was brought up in a home where Christian principles governed the household. His father, Ebenezer George Rowell, was called by grace as a young man and was a preacher of the gospel before my father reached the age of seven. His mother was a woman of strong character, tracing her ancestry from the Huguenots who fled from France to England in the time of their persecution in the sixteenth century. She was well able to instruct him in gospel truth, being a woman of considerable intelligence who would always go to great pains to explain his difficulties. He was the only son in a family of four.

It is remarkable to notice the long connection that the family has had with Strict Baptist chapels. My father’s great-grandfather conducted services at a little chapel at Yaxley, near Peterborough, although he never preached; his grandfather was the pastor at Chatteris and his father was pastor at Oakington and then at Ebenezer Chapel, Old Hill, near Birmingham; so that for five generations the Lord has used members of the family in His service. The Apostle John assures us that the children of God are, ‘born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’, but there is no doubt that God hears the prayers of gracious parents and many are the blessings to be seen in families where God is honoured and trusted. Here is proof that ‘the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call’.

As a boy my father was evidently strong and lively with a quick, intelligent mind. He once spoke of the good influence of the headmaster of his elementary school, Mr. T. Pack, who was a gracious man. When he left the school this headmaster wrote in his Autograph album and made a mistake. He wrote

‘Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do

do do it with thy might’.

This mistake was overruled by God to impress a much needed exhortation on my father’s mind, the influence of which could be discerned in all that his hand did find to do.

To his great regret he was not able to follow academic studies for long and after a few years at the Huntingdon Grammar School he had to leave and assist his father in the family tailoring business. He always said that his own children must have the opportunities for study which he was denied and this vow he kept even though it caused him no little financial hardship with a large family.

During the later part of his schooldays he was very interested in athletics and as the River Ouse ran through his home town his interest turned to swimming and rowing, in which he excelled. Soon he was invited to join the town rowing ‘eight’ and was much involved in the activities of the club. At this time he had a dangerous accident when a skiff in which he was practising overturned and had he not been a strong swimmer he might well have been drowned. This, together with the drinking habits of the other oarsmen were warnings to him from God. There were signs that he was becoming uncomfortable in such company and he seemed to welcome the increasing demands of the business so that eventually he gave up all these connections. However, behind these events were the constant anxious prayers of his parents who were greatly concerned lest he be led sadly astray by his gay and careless friends.

During his early years he attended Godmanchester chapel, then under the pastorate of Mr. Oldfield, a man for whom he had the greatest respect. Later in life he mentioned from the pulpit how much he regretted the trouble he had caused the old Sunday School Superintendent at Godmanchester and after his first heart attack he seemed to be much concerned and grieved over the sins of his youth. He even wrote to his sisters to say that he felt even to have teased them was a sin!

On a happier note his sister recalls an incident from these days when he was favoured to have a Sunday School teacher who was a young but most gracious man. It was through a lesson given by this Arthur Hill that he was first made to feel the importance of spiritual things. The lesson was on the text: ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up’. He discussed this lesson with his mother on his return from the school and, remarkable to relate, it was through listening to this conversation that his sister was awakened and saw the truth of the gospel for the first time.

In 1914 his father, who had been preaching for some years, was called to the pastorate of Oakington chapel and from that time he would travel with him by pony and trap from Huntingdon to Oakington for the Sunday Services. It was evidently during these years that the Lord’s work in his soul began, though the precise time cannot be determined. More than twenty years later, when speaking at the services called to mark the commencement of his pastorate at Hope Chapel, Rochdale, he said;

“Whilst I have been here this evening a verse of a hymn has been recurring to my mind with some power. It is:

Me Thou hast forgiven much:

This my sins too plainly prove.

Give me what Thou givest such.

Much humility and love. (874 Gadsby’s)

It may be that these words have been brought to my mind by reason of a verse of Scripture which has lately been constantly with me, and because of the humbling power it has been made by the Lord to my spirit. The words are: ‘Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee’ (Deut. 15, 15), and this evening I wish to speak of how these words have been true in my life. If any external circumstances could alleviate the state of bondage of a sinner in his natural condition, I think they would have done so in my own case. My parents feared the Lord. I was brought up in a godly home, and my course of life was guided in right moral ways, as far as it was humanly possible. In my choice of literature I was guided by a very wise mother, and although in my bondage in later youth my taste for books became vitiated, this was the fault of my own sinful choice, and was to my shame.

I did not in those days realize my bondage, and had a person pointedly accused me of being a slave I should have repudiated such a suggestion; yet such, as I see it now, was my natural state: mind, will and spirit subject to the power of sin. The Lord in His mercy did bring me to the knowledge of that bondage in Egypt. My father, who is here tonight, and has spoken of his prayers on my behalf, was the means in the Lord’s hand to make me know this bondage of soul. Under preaching concerning the prophecies of the Word of God I was made to fear my end as a sinner in the day of God’s Judgment. The theme of the end of the world was as a sword-thrust to the conscience. I shall never forget the misery and fear of soul as sabbath after sabbath the word of condemnation entered my mind and heart. Constant reproach brought me to great fear before a Holy God.

I determined to reform my life, to turn over a clean page of life’s experience; but only to find each page with worse blots, to discover that all good intentions were vain. Here I learned the nature of the hard bondage of a sinner’s Egypt, and also how powerful is the bondage of a slavish fear of God. Can a bondman deliver himself from his bonds? Time after time I had to prove in those days, as so often since, that ‘In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:’ (Rom. 7, 18). The Lord was gracious to me at that time. He did not leave me or take His hand from me. I was unable to cast off those convictions. I could no longer swallow the world and its pleasures as at one time. Thus I laboured for months under the power of the law of God convicting me of my
sin. Prayer for deliverance from this bondage seemed unanswered, and the preaching of the Gospel seemed to hold out no hope for me at all. ‘And the LORD thy God redeemed thee.’ Many a time I had heard of the redeeming and substitutionary work of Christ, but until a certain day these blessed truths were not for me. How well I remember that day when the text was announced by my father: ‘Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” (Isa. 53, 1). What a blessed entrance into a heavily burdened conscience did the word of consolation make as the ‘report’ was applied concerning Him who bore our griefs, was wounded for our transgressions, and by whose stripes we are healed. Here was the answer of the Lord to halting fearful prayer. The tidings concerning the blessed work of redemption by Christ Jesus were that day received by God-given faith into my soul. I went from that place of worship a freed man, rejoicing in receiving a living hope in Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Redeemer.”

He was baptized by his father at Oakington in November, 1925, after having been unanimously received by the church.

His concern for the glory of God and the spread of gospel truth soon appeared for, after his baptism, he commenced a Sunday School at the village of Elsworth. His father had the oversight of this chapel but the congregation was small and there had not been a Sunday School there for many years. When the school opened there were only seven scholars but his heart was very much in the work and the numbers grew until other teachers had to be brought in. Interest was aroused amongst the parents in the village so that many of them came to meetings in the week and some to Sunday services, some hearing the truth for the first time.

This work continued until he felt the burden of the word of the Lord on his spirit so powerfully that he had to tell his father of this call of God to the ministry. He preached for the first time in January 1928 and many years later recalled the way in which God had led him.

“The Lord laid upon my heart with great weight and power the words: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16. 15). Although I used many an excuse, as Moses did, and although there were many powerful influences at work in my heart to restrain me from such a course, the only word I could obtain from the Lord at the time was: ‘Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.’ (Dan. 12, 13). A solemn exercise of mind at that period was the word: ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’ (Mark 16, 16). What an inexpressibly solemn position is that of one whose words are the savour of life unto life to some but the savour of death unto death to others. Finally, as I had tried to lay all this and
many other difficulties and hindrances before Him, the Lord powerfully applied the words: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matt. 6, 33). All resistance was broken down under the power and love of the word of instruction at that time. Some few years later, whilst returning thirty miles by train after preaching, the Lord renewed these words to my soul; and as I was led to look back to the bondage, the deliverance, and also to the way in which the Lord had performed His promise of ‘adding’ the other things, I was so softened in heart under His love as to weep to the praise of the Lord’s mercy.”

It is evident from his own diary that he had preached for over a year before the church at Oakington finally recognised his call to preach in April 1929. His diary for 1928 bears a card pasted to its cover bearing the following text in his own handwriting, ‘Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them’. (Mal. 3, 16.) In the spirit of this verse he continued to speak to sinners of his Saviour for the next forty-five years.

Through a preaching engagement at Welwyn, soon after he had begun to speak, he first met the young lady who was to be his wife. In March 1933 he married Miss Pansy Edith Goldsmith who was to share his joys and sorrows for the rest of his days. They lived for a short while at Huntingdon whilst he continued working with his father in the business, preaching at the weekends and sometimes also in the week, experiencing the pressure of that double burden which is so hard to bear.

In 1934 he was called to the pastorate of the Strict Baptist chapel at Linslade, Buckinghamshire, where he commenced his regular ministry in January 1935. At first he continued in the family business, travelling widely in the area to collect and deliver orders, but both he and his father had a great distraction; both were pastors and could not give their time to the business as it required. Increasing competition and the failure of credit customers to settle their accounts all combined to bring them into difficulties and at last the business was sold up. The total proceeds were just enough to buy them each a new ‘Ford 8’, which cost just £100 in those days! Both had enjoyed a measure of prosperity but they were now to feel much of the trials of poverty for the sake of the Gospel.

The pastorate at Linslade was a very short interlude for in 1937 he told the church that he had felt compelled by the Lord to accept the pastorate of Hope Chapel, Rochdale. He had lived in Linslade for only three years and the sorrow of parting was keenly felt on both sides. He recorded his feelings as he outlined his call to Rochdale at the Welcome services held there on October 22nd, 1938.

“I must make reference to matters in connection with my coming to Rochdale. My father has mentioned the love which existed between myself and the Church at Linslade. It still exists, for as our Chairman has just remarked, ‘It never will be broken down.’ You would not ask that this love should cease. I trust that you may be able to join with me in prayer for the friends at Linslade.

When your invitation was received, I felt that I could not, and would not, come; but in laying the matter before the Lord, the only leadings which I received through the Word of God were in the direction of coming here. Few can enter into the agony of mind of those days. Again and again I have returned home from preaching at the chapel at Linslade after enjoying liberty in the ministry and seeing the love and anxious sorrow of the people there at the thought of my leaving them; and I have said to my wife and the deacon: ‘I cannot leave this people. The Lord, I believe, sent me to them, and I cannot break away from them.’ In this anxiety I was almost driven to despair. In unbelief I thought that there was no word in Scripture that the Lord could use to decide this matter for me. The anxiety was so great as to make me unfit for my business, and I feared that I should again be laid up by illness. How clearly does that day and the circumstances of the day stand out in my memory when the Lord did reveal His will. Retiring to rest that night in agony of mind, I begged again and again for the Lord to give me a sign. With almost hopelessness I turned to my Bible, and there as I lay in bed tears dropped from my eyes and thankfulness arose in my heart as the Lord, in a remarkable way, revealed His will in these words:
‘Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing’ (Ezek. 12, 3), a word which was supported by other instruction and also promises from the Lord’s Word to my soul.

Following acceptance of your invitation, I was again brought into sore trouble as, for a season of perhaps two months, I had such help from the Spirit of God in the ministry as I had never experienced before. This, I feared, was evidence that I was mistaken, and should stay at Linslade, but the Lord was to show me that there is a blessing upon obedience, for this was succeeded by a period of such death and darkness of soul as to make me know, more fully than before, that the ministry is “By my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4, 6).

Our misunderstanding of the Lord’s blessings needs correcting, but in His mercy He lays His rod upon us, yet does not cut us off.

Of the way in which the Lord used the experience of these six weeks of darkness and death afterwards, to the blessing and deliverance of one who had long been in bondage, I need not speak in particular; but in this I proved His power to humble me that I might say from my heart: Thy will be done’.”

Both father and mother felt keenly the change of surroundings in moving to Rochdale. The dark industrial dirt of this Lancashire cotton manufacturing town was such a distressing contrast to the gentle rural area they had previously enjoyed. The people, though very kind, had a different outlook and attitude, as well as a different dialect, and the adjustment to a new way of life was not easy. My father threw himself energetically into a life of preaching and visiting and soon gained a warm place in the affections of many congregations in the area, being specially concerned for the weak and struggling groups nearby. His ever-widening labours throughout the country meant long journeys and many days away from home, which proved exceedingly trying as the second world war had started and his family was rapidly increasing. No one but those who pass this way can understand what a severe trial of faith this is for both a mother at home and a father away.

During this wartime period he was much concerned for the welfare of our soldiers both by practical help and in prayerful concern. He began to publish the ‘Hope Chapel Circular’ with the purpose of keeping contact with chapel friends away from home, and many were the testimonies of gratitude for the words of encouragement and comfort in these small printed messengers. This endeavour, together with regular contributions to ‘Waymarks’, a magazine published for some years by the late S. Rutherford Hunt, was a useful preparation for his later editorial work with this magazine.

During and after the war the churches in the north of England suffered a sad decline both numerically and spiritually and this inevitably affected Hope Chapel. My father had been so involved with the life of the churches in the area that he was intensely saddened by these changes. Worst of all, there was a growing tension in his own church and he was eventually compelled, for conscience sake, to make a stand on a number of issues of principle, but the church would not support him and he felt compelled to resign. This he did in 1955.

Once, when travelling through the town, some years after moving to Evington, he spoke of his deep sorrow on looking back over the years spent there and said that the words of Isaiah were much in his mind; ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgement is with the LORD, and my work with my God.’ This was doubtless the depressed feeling of a sensitive spirit but there are many who will testify that those years were far from wasted. Some can speak of God’s blessing in the new birth from his ministry in Rochdale and the surrounding areas, and there are a number of gracious men, now preaching the gospel, who received much help and encouragement from him in those days.

The personal and family trials he passed through in the years at Rochdale can easily be imagined as he had only a small income on which to support a family that increased until, in 1954, his tenth and last child was born. He learned by painful but precious experience to live as Elijah did by the brook Cherith. Many were the remarkable times in my childhood when an unexpected gift would make it possible to pay the electricity bill or settle the butcher’s account. Prayers were heard and answered for God did not see ‘the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.’

For just over twelve months after his resignation from Rochdale he was travelling almost continuously, preaching from one end of the country to the other and it was during this time that he received a call to the pastorate of Evington Chapel, near Leicester. He spoke of his experiences at this time in the booklet published for the Welcome services held at Evington in April, 1957, from which the following is extracted:

“During the last few years a solemn and yet most blessed exercise in prayer to the Lord for the gift of a Pastor, was given to the Church at Evington and the pleading of the Lord’s promises concerning this found a constant place in their private and public prayer. Increase of desire for this was shown despite the fact that for some time no particular person had been upon the mind of the members.

During July 1955, information was received that I had received an intimation from the Lord that my work as Pastor at Rochdale must be terminated and at once it was shown that the Lord was uniting the hearts of the people in love and unanimous desire that a call should be given to the pastorate here. After a period of waiting and pleading for the knowledge of the will of the Lord in the matter, this call was given at a meeting when quite a number of members were able to speak of the way in which the Lord had constrained them and applied His Word to their hearts to dissolve doubts and quieten their fears.

The reception of this invitation occasioned me great surprise and a very deep concern, for at the same time, enquiries of a similar nature had reached me from other places. For certain reasons I had felt no inclination to accept another pastoral charge and had contemplated a return to some secular calling but with the Lord’s Day ministry in various places. I was speedily shown this was not the Lord’s will, for not only were the Lord’s Days of 1956 speedily booked but it was also evident that the year would be one of continuous labour and travel in the Lord’s Name and service. In addition, the application of the word of the Lord to my spirit was such as to show that the Lord had a place for me to go to which would not be of my own choice, and that it would be necessary for me to ‘Wait upon the Lord’ for information concerning this. Of these experiences I wrote to the Church at Evington under date February 3rd, 1956:—

‘As I was travelling to Thurlstone on July 5th, the Lord powerfully applied the words to my spirit, ‘But he passing through the midst of them went his way, and came down to Capernaum . . . and taught them on the sabbath days.’ (Luke 4, 30-31.) With the word it was shewn to me that it was the Lord’s will for me to ‘pass through’ the Church at Rochdale and leave, them and that in fellowship with the Lord Himself. I was shown that none would be able to hinder in this and that there was a place, unknown to me then, where I should labour in His Name. Upon this I sought a ‘Fleece wet’ and on the afternoon of the following day the Lord again visited my soul with the words, ‘By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went’. (Hebrews 11, 8).

Waiting for the next Church meeting at Rochdale I was sorely tempted and the Lord answered prayer in granting the promise ‘Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage;
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest.’ (Joshua 1, 9); and added the command, ‘Go in this thy might . . . have not I sent thee?’ (Judges 6, 14).

Upon this I did not hesitate to announce my resignation to the Church at Rochdale and felt to be confirmed by the events that happened at the meeting and that which followed.

During August and September I felt that it would be impossible for me to undertake another pastorate and was enquiring of the Lord as to some place to live and probably as to the necessity of some work of a secular nature whereby I might thus support my family.

However as I waited upon the Lord this word was brought powerfully to my spirit. ‘Arise and go toward the south unto the way that goeth from Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert’, (Acts 8, 26), and immediately, as the power of the word entered my spirit, I replied ‘O Lord, my condition lately has been so much in the desert that I do not want to go there’. Immediately the reply was given, ‘I will make the desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose’. I have seen that the nature of man everywhere is a ‘desert’ and it is only by the great grace of the Lord that this can be dealt with and blossoms of grace can appear. A very blessed sense of rest and confidence in the Lord attended this and I began then to seek from the Lord a more definite direction as to where He would have me to go.

It was just following this that I received your invitation, but at the same time enquiries of a similar nature were made of me elsewhere and I was brought into considerable distress of mind and was tempted to believe that it was impossible, from the Word of God, that my perplexity could be resolved.

On Monday morning, January 23rd, I was staying with some friends at Willenhall and before dressing I had been in agony of mind as I asked the Lord to shew me if it was His will for me to come to Evington or not. I was due to preach for you that evening and you had asked me to make some reply if possible on that occasion in view of the matter of ministerial engagements. When I reached my friends’ dining-room I noticed that their block calendar was out of date and turning over the past days I read ‘And the LORD said unto him. Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say’. (Exodus 4, 11-12). I stood with amazement, with the calendar in my hand and said, ‘Is this Thine answer. Lord?’ For near a fortnight a portion of the Word of the Lord had laid upon my mind and several times I had sought the will of the Lord with desire to speak therefrom. On every previous occasion the Spirit of the Lord had turned me from it but now on that Monday the words, ‘Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.’ (Rev. 3, 8) were constantly with me and in the evening, as you will remember, I was enabled to speak to you from these words. The same evening as I was reading the Scriptures in the home of our friend, Mrs. Gushlow, I read ‘But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.’ (Luke 4, 26), which I felt to come with added power to my heart, especially as I was reading the Scripture in the presence of a widow, one who had been widowed during recent years since I went to Rochdale when I understand there had been consultation among you to ask me then to be your Pastor.

I was greatly impressed by the narrative of one of your members of the assurance of the rightness of this invitation by the witness of the Spirit to her concerning the words, ‘I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come.’ (Isaiah 41, 25.)

Still I hesitated and I felt a heavy sense of reproof rest upon my spirit for this until the Lord on Tuesday applied these words to my heart, ‘Why tarriest thou. Arise’ and as I said to the Lord, ‘I will go Lord’ there came and has abode with me through these days a blessed peace which I believe is of Him.’

In concluding my letter accepting the pastorate, I added:

‘I seek a continuance of a place in your hearts’ affection and faith’s increase in prayer for the Lord’s seal and blessing. Think not great things of me but of the Lord the Saviour. Pray that He may be great in me and made greater by His grace to you through one who is unworthy to be an instrument for good. It is my prayer that you and I may in no way escape the gracious rule and leading of the Lord and thereby, through darkness and light, in sorrow and in joy, we may prove ‘The Lord is there’. What better ‘Name’ can any Church and its pastor bear than this?

This letter was not sent until February 3rd, 1956, and immediately the difficulties which had been foreseen faced us. A large family could not be accommodated at the Manse without considerable additions which presented grave difficulties of finance and the permission of the authorities, as the Chapel and the Manse were both listed as buildings of special architectural and historic interest. After a period of much prayer and waiting upon the Lord, a house in Whitehall Road, Evington, became available and the means to attempt the purchase through a Building Society were wonderfully provided in the face of what seemed to be insuperable difficulties. In this and subsequent matters relative to our removal to Evington, how truly we were able to declare ‘I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears’. For continued and so necessary favours we would still wait upon the God of all grace and believe that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above what we ask.”

His pastorate at Evington was one of slow but increasing fruitfulness in which he was encouraged to see a little of the Lord’s work appearing in the hearts and lives of the people. It was possible to record a large number of sermons preached in recent years and, in time, the publication of some of these may give a more adequate impression of the power and life of his ministry amongst his own people. The writing of any memorial to my father is made difficult because he never kept any record of his own feelings and experiences apart from very brief statements such as have been included here. His diaries are full of preaching engagements but scarcely ever a comment beside. From sermons, letters and personal contact must the greater part of his spiritual experience be gleaned.

During the years at Evington he supervised the rebuilding of the Sunday School which was opened in 1964 and then more recently he was involved in the complete renovation of the chapel building which was almost finished as he ended his labours. The church at Evington will not quickly forget the prayers and faith with which he faced the tremendous financial problems involved in these matters nor the way in which God honoured that trust by moving the hearts of so many friends to send help.

In 1965 the burden of the Lord in his heart found expression in the publication of the first issue of this magazine. It had long been his desire to publish a magazine which would be of general usefulness amongst those who love the doctrines of grace and who can appreciate a warm and lively experience of God’s grace. He was also concerned that the sermons and writings of contemporary preachers should be published and, whilst unashamed of his Strict Baptist principles, he was concerned to avoid producing a purely denominational magazine. He lived to see a gradual increase in circulation and rejoiced to know that many had found real spiritual profit in reading it.

About the time this magazine was first published there was a great concern in my father’s heart for a number of his friends who were ministers and pastors in the locality. He invited them to meet at Evington at regular intervals for prayer and discussion and these conferences continued to the end of his life. They were times of real blessing to his soul and often he rose from prayer with tears in his eyes, tears of joy and thankfulness. Many have been the occasions when we have felt the special power of the Holy Spirit during these prayer meetings and no one can estimate the value of the wise and loving counsel he gave to younger ministers both within and outside of this small group. He was truly a pastor amongst pastors and many distressed, perplexed hearts found relief in talking with him of their troubles, often receiving a few words which would greatly help to resolve the difficulties and encourage the faltering to ‘press toward the mark fo